What the most successful people do before breakfast

To make the most out of the year, start at the end, and answer “what would you like to say you did this year?”

My friend, Laura Vanderkam, had a smash hit this year with her book, ” What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast “, and I thought this quiet week a good time to share her secrets of those savvy folks who make the most of the darkness before dawn.

Her best bit of advice? To make the most out of this year, start at the end, and answer “what would you like to say you did this year?” Specifically, her advice is:

Write the professional review you’d like to give yourself at the end of the year.

What three big professional goals would you like to say you accomplished? Think through the coming year and put down on paper the achievements you’d like to push yourself to complete. What steps will you have taken to get there? What obstacles will you have overcome? What small triumphs and milestone rewards will you celebrate along the way?

Visualize your success, and the (always unexpectedly changing) path there, and you’ll be a long step towards professional happiness twelve months hence.

Laura adds, that you can do this in your personal life, too.

You no doubt get holiday letters and cards from family and friends with their pictures of vacations taken, babies had, and memories created at the end of the year. So…

Why not write your holiday card or letter now?

What would you like to say you’ve done in your personal life by the end of this year? Knowing that you want to say this is the year you joined a choir, visited Dublin, or started volunteering with the Boys & Girls Club vastly increases the chances that those things actually happen.

Marc Cenedella
is the Founder, Executive Chairman and CEO of Ladders, Inc., the comprehensive career resource dedicated to helping professionals ‘Manage, Market and Move-up’ in their careers. Over the last decade, Ladders has transformed the way job candidates and recruiters connect online. Follow Marc on Twitter at @Cenedella.